Rite of Passage

Lauren has been asking about getting her ears pierced for quite some time.  It started over a year ago as more of a curiosity.  She's always been fascinated by all things girly, sparkly and shiny, and playing in my jewelry drawer has provided endless hours of entertainment.

Her friend Harley got her ears pierced when she was 6, and that prompted some serious questions, the primary one being - will it hurt?  After being told that piercing hurt even a little bit, it pretty much ended the inquiry until this past June.  Then all of a sudden she made up her mind that some amount of pain notwithstanding, she definitely wanted to take the plunge.

I had previously wanted to wait until she was a bit older, i.e. 9 or 10, not because I thought she was too young to have pierced ears, but because I was afraid she wouldn't be conscientious about caring for them properly and they would become infected.  Plus not having to worry about cleaning and choosing earrings is just so much darn easier.

But I'm certainly not one to ever take the easy way out.  So after pleading with both her father and me all summer long, we decided at the end of the summer to take the plunge.

On a bright and beautiful Saturday afternoon, Joe and I brought her to the Merle Norman cosmetics studio by our house, where we met Norm and Kathy.





And because I couldn't resist making such a special occasion even more memorable, arrangements were made to also have her bff Virginia there to get her ears pierced at the same time.



They searched for the perfect starter earrings, and of course each picked out the same ones (dainty little daisies with pink center stones).



Their ears were then marked for precise placement of the earrings.





Lauren was up first.  Our girl held my hands and was so very brave.





After watching Lauren, little Virginia appeared to be having second thoughts.



But she persevered, and two best friends now have something else in common.



It's now been a couple of weeks, and so far, so good.  The starter earrings need to stay in for at least 3 months, but that hasn't stopped her from dreaming of her first acquisition of tiny hoop earrings.  I fully intend to keep her in studs for as long as possible, but the seed has now been planted, and teeny tiny hoops just may be in store come April and a certain girl's 8th birthday.........